Broken Frontier

Out this last week from Marvel Comics, X-Men Worlds Apart #1 takes a special look at the world of Storm and her relationship with the Black Panther. Writer Christopher Yost provided Broken Frontier with this exclusive creator’s commentary on the first issue giving those who have already picked up the book some fresh insights into events and showing those who haven’t exactly what they’re missing…

X-Men: Worlds Apart is a four-issue limited series that focuses on STORM, and examines her relatively new situation of trying to be Queen of Wakanda, wife of the Black Panther, and X-Man all at once.

For editor Daniel Ketchum and I, it was a chance to tell a kick ass Storm story. We both have a love for the character, and wanted to show the world what we love about her, and answer the question that fans seem to want answered, does Storm belong with the Black Panther or with the X-Men?

This is a woman who’s crossed the universe, defied gods, battled monsters, saved the world, led the X-Men, loved, lost… she was a thief, a goddess, a super hero, and is now a Queen…

She’s had a pretty full life. And that’s why we decided to kill her.

PAGE ONE

This was Daniel’s idea, to start the issue with this page… the thought was to turn the preconceived notion of what a Storm series is by starting with a murder mystery. And right off the bat, Diogenes Neves hits it right out of the park. This is going to be a theme of this ‘commentary’, that Diogenes is INCREDIBLE. We’re lucky to have him on this. Wait until you see issue TWO. Holy Toledo.

Anyway, as my fans are now used to, human life has no value to me. And a Wakandan Shaman dies a horrible death. It certainly sets the tone for what’s to come.

X-Men: Worlds Apart # 1 Pages 1 and 5

PAGES TWO THROUGH FIVE

And there’s Storm in the sewer again, as she herself comments. She’s down there a lot, it seems. She’s got history there, and it takes her out of her element, the skies.

In this case, there’s a reason she and Cyclops are down there, stemming from Cyclops’ invitation to all mutants to join the X-Men in San Francisco. It also gave me a reason to put Cyclops and Storm together, so they can have some pretty tense words.

Cyclops represents the X-Men part of her life, a HUGE part of her life until recently. She shows up here and there, but she went from leader to part-timer, and Cyclops calls her on it.

Is he harsh? Sure. But looking at it in context, mutantkind is on the edge of extinction. He needs commitment.

PAGES SIX AND SEVEN

DIOGENES! We saw this spread and realized that we were going to win. We had no idea what our artist had in store for us. My dream in life was to have a massively awesome double page spread, and this fit the bill… but it’s nothing compared to the spread in issue two. I’m giddy with anticipation.

This is Storm in her element. The majesty, the beauty. I had a Fantastic Four / Johnny Storm gag in there originally, but it was a little obscure if you hadn’t been reading FF/Panther.

X-Men: Worlds Apart # 1 Pages 6 and 7

PAGES NINE AND TEN

Ah, Nehzno. A Chris Yost/Craig Kyle creation, Nehzno is one of the New X-Men kids that we treated so poorly. Well, it doesn’t get better here.

Long time X-Men fans will probably have realized what’s happening here at this point, certainly in the next few pages.

I like Nehzno here, because no matter how stiff Storm may be, Nehzno’s got her beat. The stick up Nehzno’s posterior is infliexible to an incredible degree, but given the situation he’s about to be in, he’s going to have to break it altogether.

Around page thirteen is also where Storm starts to realizes that something very, very, very BAD is happening.

PAGE FOURTEEN (right)

For me, worst case scenario is where it’s at. You want to find out Storm’s commitment to Wakanda? Turn Wakanda against her. For me, these characters shine the brightest when the whole universe is against them, and it’s all on them to win the day.

Those were the greatest X-Men stories. Her whole life is about to crash down around her, and she’s got to find a way to save EVERYONE.

I also wanted to show Storm a little off her game – as Queen, she quickly fell into her Goddess attitude… she became very used to people obeying her. She can say good-bye to that.

PAGE FIFTEEN AND SIXTEEN

Oh, snap. That soldier is about to have a very bad day.

Bottom line, Storm has to live up to her name. She has to scare the $#!^ out of you sometimes. And I like that line on 16.

PAGE SEVENTEEN THROUGH NINETEEN

Yay! The Black Panther is here, the day is saved. Oh, wait. That would be too easy.

For everyone who has doubts about the Black Panther / Storm marriage, those doubts are expressed here, by the Panther. Every doubt Ororo has about herself, about her roles with the X-Men and as T’Challa’s wife, he’s voicing them in the worst possible way, right here.

Sometimes, when life is going almost TOO well, you kind of EXPECT things to fall apart. Storm has seen it a thousand times before… any time that she and the X-Men seem to be on the verge of happiness, it’s all taken away.

Just like this.

X-Men: Worlds Apart # 1 Pages 17 and 19

PAGE TWENTY

And, if you haven’t guessed it by now, here it is. That wink. Something isn’t right, and while part of Storm knew, here’s the confirmation.

I like big villains. Two other names I threw in the ring for this series were the ADVERSARY and APOCALYPSE. But the villain for the series brought so much emotional meat to the table that it was pretty clear from the start who it needed to be.

PAGE TWENTY ONE AND TWENTY TWO

Our old friend, the SHADOW KING. The bottom line is that Storm CANNOT beat him. It’s impossible. He can take her over any time he wants to. There’s no Xavier, no Frost, no Psylocke around to help.

Storm is completely and utterly in unwinnable trouble.

That’s her element. These are the stories that get my blood pumping.

Even if she tells the Wakandans that it’s the Shadow King, who are they going to believe? Their King, or their new outsider mutant Queen? Good luck, Storm. You’re gonna need it.

Next issue it gets even worse.

The goal for the series was to make Storm examine her life in two worlds, with the X-Men and with the Panther. And now, a villain from her life with the X-Men has just descended down upon Wakanda.

The choices she’s going to have to make in the coming issues are brutal, each one designed to tear out her heart and soul. She’s going to have to hurt people she loves in order to just survive, much less win the day. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

So, in conclusion of this college-like thesis, this series will kick ass, will show you why Storm kicks ass, and show that even if you are one of the most powerful monsters in the universe, you DO NOT MESS WITH STORM.

It’s got jaw dropping art by Diogenes Neves, in what will most likely be the last time I work with him because he’s so incredible. It’s got Wakanda, it’s got X-Men, it’s got life and death battles, incredible powers, and it’s got some decent jokes.

If you love Storm, this is for you. If you hate Storm, this is even more for you. This is why OTHER people like her.

Thanks, everyone!

Chris

X-Men: Worlds Apart #1 is out now from Marvel Comics priced $3.99 written by Christopher Yost, penciled by Diogenes Neves and inked by Ed Tadeo.